Civic Pulse
What does it feel like to live in America right now?
Are people hopeful or burned out? Do they trust their neighbors, their government, or themselves? Are they paying attention to what’s happening around them, or turning away from it all?
At Murmuration, we know that understanding civic life means digging deeper than turnout rates and voting behavior (though we do that too!). To truly understand the state of our democracy, we have to look at how people are feeling, what they care about, how connected they are to their communities, and whether they believe their actions matter.
That’s why we developed Civic Pulse—a data-driven initiative to capture the lived texture of civic life, one day at a time.
What is Civic Pulse?
Civic Pulse is a daily research initiative designed to give us a real-time snapshot of how people across the country are feeling, thinking, and engaging with civic life. Each day, we ask 500 individuals about their experiences—as neighbors, workers, parents, community members, and human beings.
In each wave, we gather data on:
Life satisfaction and emotional wellbeing
Belonging and connection to community
Civic behaviors and civic agency
Political awareness and attention
Our team of data scientists uses advanced natural language processing and modeling to analyze thousands of open-ended responses each week. This allows us to surface patterns, extract signals from noise, and generate insights that are both statistically rigorous and human-centered. Our goal is to illuminate the emotional and relational foundations of civic life, and to help those working on the front lines of democracy better understand the people they serve.
Why It Matters
Civic Pulse was built on a simple truth: democracy doesn’t begin and end at the ballot box. It’s lived in everyday acts of trust, connection, and care—in how people treat one another, how they show up for their communities, and whether they believe change is possible.
Too often, organizers, policymakers, and funders are forced to operate with stale data or incomplete stories. Civic Pulse fills that gap with:
Timely, nuanced, and emotionally honest insights
A view of where civic energy is building or unraveling, and
An understanding not just of what people are doing, but why they feel the way they do
Stay Connected
Civic Pulse is our way of listening. Through our State of Us series, we’ll share regular updates from Civic Pulse as well as Murmuration’s other research initiatives.
We hope you’ll join us. Subscribe to follow, and stay in conversation with what’s really happening in communities across the country.
